Page 11 - CMA PROfiles Fall 2018

ASSOCIATE OF THE QUARTER

Western After researching their options, they
decided to set up their own drawer
production line; when the 1,000 drawers
Dovetail were finished, they decided to start
a drawer business rather than let the
equipment sit idle.

Starting from the ground up – again The first five years were “a real struggle,”
Max Hunter says. They operated on a
shoestring from their father’s shop for
BY CARLA ATKINSON three or four years before they began to
get consistent work.

Brothers Max and Josh Hunter and their dedicated team UPS AND DOWNS
Western Dovetail hit its stride about five
at Western Dovetail are celebrating their 25th year – and years in, then broke a million dollars in

a miraculous recovery from an earthquake that destroyed sales in 2000. They outgrew Sonoma
their shop and forced them to start over. and the brothers found a larger space on
Mare Island in Vallejo in 2003.
After moving into the new space, the
company continued growing.
Most businesses have faced tough times, but Western Dovetail has had to overcome a A far less exciting milestone came along a
challenge few will ever face – an earthquake and its aftermath.
few years later: 2008, the year that looms
President Max Hunter and Vice President Josh Hunter were in Atlanta promoting their large for so many businesses. “The reces-
custom drawer manufacturing business at the IWF trade show when an earthquake hit sion knocked us back five years,” Hunter
the South Napa area of California in the early morning hours of August 24, 2014. says, “but we survived.” He considers

The brothers returned home to a devastating sight, one that the company later 2013 to be the year they had truly recov-
described in a newsletter they later sent to customers. ered, but the stretch from 2012-2014 was
the best run the company had ever had.
The building “had been blocked off with k-rail and caution tape, and big red stickers
that said ‘UNSAFE’ were on the doors. There was debris all over the ground, the plaster Then came the earthquake.
pilasters had fallen off and lay crumpled on the ground, and there were bricks scattered On the first day, only two people were
everywhere. allowed into the
“The picnic table where employees ate lunch was buried under a pile
of bricks, vehicles parked nearby had parts of the building on top of
them, gas lines and electrical lines snapped, water from sprinklers
pouring down the sides of the building. What had been the home of
Western Dovetail for the past 11 years was now a disaster area, off limits
to anyone until further notice.”

BEGINNINGS
Max Hunter began Western Dovetail in Sonoma in 1993 with
support from his father George and his brother Josh. Max and
Josh both learned woodworking at an early age from their father.
The drawer business began almost by accident when they were
working with their father on a boarding school dorm project that
required more than 1,000 drawers.

CABINET MAKERS ASSOCIATION 9